FSB: CIA crossed ‘red line’ with agent Fogle

The CIA has crossed a certain ‘red line’ in professional ethics of intelligence as American spy Ryan Fogle attempted to recruit a Russian agent, an FSB operative told RT.

“In case with Fogle, the CIA crossed the red line and we had
no choice but to react observing official procedures,” a
representative of the Russian Security Service, the FSB, said in an
interview with RT.

The spy story broke earlier this week after it was
made public that Fogle – who had worked under the guise of a third
secretary at the US Embassy in Moscow – was detained after being
caught red-handed trying to recruit a Russian intelligence officer
for the CIA. Following the incident he was expelled from
Russia.

As early as by autumn 2011, the FSB was aware that the CIA was
pursuing a goal to get an informer within the Russian special
services, the agent told RT.

“Those were not one-off events, which caused our
concern,” the operative pointed out. “Therefore, we decided
to warn our American colleagues and ask them to stop these
activities.”

At a time, the FSB did not make public any information they knew
about the CIA operations in Moscow, but held a meeting with the
head of their station’s chief in Moscow.

“We hoped our American colleagues would hear us, given that
we also presented to them precise information about CIA officers
making recruitment attempts in Moscow and who exactly was doing
that,” the source added.

In particular, back then, the FSB named such American agents as
Benjamin Dillon, third secretary of the American Embassy in Moscow.
Last year, “Dillon got into the same story as Fogle” and was
expelled from Russia in January, the source said.

“Hoping that the CIA would make necessary conclusions from the
incident, we did not make that case public,” he said.
Apparently, the Americans did not appreciate the FSB’s “correct
attitude towards professional ethics.”

The FSB was aware that Ryan Fogle worked for the CIA since his
arrival in Moscow in April 2011. Russian intelligence, “keeps an
eye on” representatives of all foreign special services and the
American intelligence agency is no exception to the rule, the
source noted.

“The point of such an approach is to terminate all possible
actions by foreign intelligence that could pose a threat to
Russia’s security,” the operative said. “This, certainly,
does not refer to diplomats who do their duties on behalf of the US
State Department.”

The CIA did not respond to two warnings from Russia, while the
desire to wriggle through agents into the Russian special services
“remained very high .”

Before the case with Fogle, there were three similar cases with
CIA officers, the FSB agent said. While Fogle and Dillon were
expelled from Russia, others left the country voluntarily.

The FSB believes that following the latest spy scandal the
Americans “will draw right conclusions .” The source pointed
out that the US and Russian special services cooperate very closely
in countering terrorism and exchange information on the matter.